the games at the expense of sports and the host country on this edition of costello we explore the true spirit of so much. love on the slopes of sochi valentine's day and olympians and spectators alike paused to admire the darlings of the twenty fourteen winter games with an interesting selection topping the chart. three years on tear gas battalions and torture failed to hold bahraini activists as they stand a fire we take a look at what the future holds for the country. migration concerns afflicting several e.u. countries now knocking on norway's door country increasingly worried about how to control the influx without infuriating brussels. ten pm in moscow i matter as it could be with us again seven of the winter olympics

wrapping up and we begin with our special coverage of the games live from our studios in the heart of the action with kevin ollie. speeding by isn't it welcome back to aussie so. just above the olympic the main coastal sporting event you can see behind me is looking fantastic again. thing into the night you joined us so weak now is met with silence of the games and so far they've been full of old the usual triumphs defeats even heartbreak that we've grown to love with the olympics so let's go to paul scholes so he's been busy following this one. so another metal added to russia's tally just noted that come from up medal. yes well russia how i did a bronze medal to that tally on day seventy elena keats in nikita. finished third

in the women's skeleton event up in the mountains of krasnaya polyana it was the first time the russians have won a medal in the women's skeleton event meanwhile alexander tretiak of is the man to catch at the halfway stage of the men's competition he actually set a new track record in his first run the men's event actually concludes with the final two rounds on saturday when r.t. caught up with him before the start of the games and he admitted that performing on home ice is an advantage. for more than a year and i've gone to know it like the back of my hand i know that everybody likes it including foreign athletes is considered one of the best in the world is design is very smart you conveniently spacious it has a warm up area large changing rooms and very good infrastructure. russia's female callers have increased their chances of qualification for the next round with a six three victory over switzerland i think it's fair to say that the team skipped it by former model of course on a disorder the daughter of a really captured the imagination of an adoring russian public however this evening

also saw the conclusion of the men's individual figure skating event of course if any pushing was meant to be taking to the ice for russia but injury ruled him out now he is of course one of a number of athletes who it's fair to say have captured the hearts of the sochi public on valentine's day as my colleague andrew fahlman out for us. he was the sexiest athlete at these olympics. patient of course. he's a best goalkeeper. russian move for the ration of cookie. pollution. jealous just why it's so joe what's his name sean weiss retainer yes to be american and let's ask snowboarder yes i think his very good looking he was the most attractive athlete at these olympics.

it's going to be on dial up on my monitor i think we know though i know nancy ok russians good. morning ali yes killing of cost cutting. cost of ice from team germany curling. i think she was it. was a fast he's very good looking his name in this little note here why the written the saucy volunteer in the one hundred people from my. side just like everybody happy valentine's box he only sees football as nice as it should be doing anything that is so although we all will do it on say say to your wife nice to search a site smarty you could likely sell veno back in the u.k. happy valentine's day i know the games i want to order can order and. so there you are romancing me and i'm going to say happy valentine's to my fiance in moscow. in the light of true love burning as well here in sochi at the olympics

along with olympic flame of michelle the now while andrew was busy up in the mountain cluster of producers were quizzing the folks down here in saatchi's coastal cluster here's what they had to say about their favorite sports personalities. because it's. really i'll tell you this the whole team russia all two hundred twenty three of them i saw they're great and friends at the opening ceremony they're all smart and beautiful the men and ladies alike. when you move in here for so long now we get up in the morning and come here to watch the games and cheer it's very hard on us but it's great. when you start up on the ice i like the japanese women's hockey team the girls are really beautiful which is a shame their helmets had so much of their faces but i thought yeah you like all the girls don't you're. in russia will be everyone. everyone. well it's all about well wishes are to spoken to to russia's for medalists from the

figure skating pairs of bandit after wishing us and all of you well they stressed how important the support of loved ones was to them and to athletes in general. but everyone likes to get seven times it comes from a child i wish everyone had love is going to save the world. view i said we had. i wish everyone celebrating this holiday to spend the day in a romantic mood much of just the weather was great and saw two you could go for a walk to the seafront and have fun. my mother also came to sort she she was very nervous maybe even more than i was she said she couldn't watch our performance she had to turn away or even go out she could tell how we were doing only by the sound of the applause. but i my mom came a bit early to the opening ceremony the thing is i have two celebrations on that day the start of the games and my birthday so my mother came to support me but you

. ask about a pool scott the international olympic committee polls also a few things to say today what were they talking about. yes despite reports emerging in some aspects of the media saying that there's empty seats in some of the venues in melting snow causing problems in the mountains of krasnaya polyana the international olympic committee have moved today to praise the venues on the organization of the games with one i.o.c. official even suggesting that many critics are simply seeking negative things seeking problems to criticize the games of sochi twenty forty one organizers have also said that a million tickets have been sold as we approach the halfway stage which is slightly down in vancouver four years ago but the figure is up from the games into reno in two thousand and six well r.t. has been speaking to some athletes and officials to gauge how they think the games are going as we approach the halfway stage. you know game's going to be against russia. on their home turf and in their own soil so it's going to be.

i think all the games will be fun but their game saturday night will be pretty interesting so it's fun playing the russians and probably the one thing. we had the opportunity to play canada in canada and i think that's always a special thing regardless of where we were if you have an opportunity to play the host country. that's always a fun game to be a part of it's just it's one of those there's so much excitement and energy in the building. and we were lucky enough to do it in canada now we get a chance to play russia and russia which i think is always special. things before you come over and you're not really sure what to expect and. you know everything's been great so far whether it's been you know the food or they commendations or their rooms or you know the village seems to be. unbelievable just looking at it from the outside and going in and cracks in on it so. you know i'm sure a lot of it's blown out of proportion but as far as you know in the two days we've

been here everything's been great so far. we're talking about friends and family support what it means to the athletes in the studio but yeah i was speaking to american ski jumper jessica rhodes she told me of her first experiences here and. her family support plays in her career. it was so publicized all the all the negative press in the lead up to the deal put you off for to just make your own mind up and get on with it you know it was hard not to pay attention to how much negativity it was getting but i was trying to stay optimistic i knew i was coming here regardless and so far i have been so pleasantly surprised good news good news we heard earlier on my feet saying how important is to have support in the crowds etc you know loved ones or just your supporters waving flags how much does it mean to is nasty when you've been waved all night that. it's huge and i was super lucky i had seven of my family members at my event they had big like

two feet by three feet signed my face. and they loved it and i was a little embarrassed. yeah exactly. jessica with a bit of their own there won't be talking a fun camera crews in the city a film extraordinary somewhat fierce looking creature that's been tried to make friends in the salty here it is twenty forty one drop a look thanks are you want is not part of the. world despite is another media hurts todd was not even remotely interested thankfully of world domination but he's more of the music in the street into this rather clever contraption spends most of his time telling jokes dancing and making friends with the locals but no everyone has grown to trust that. i'm going to.

be able. to go on if i could for years well we'll be keeping in touch with titan is that going for the grass but of course he's just one of the very many entertainments around the city every day we've been speaking to the leading off weeks about their experiences there and this is what would be telling us today. it's so screwed here and after this success for race and really the silver medal it's just feels great and we're just happy. it's yeah it's just great it's fun. it's hard not to. i think it's a very good track and yeah. right now this is the most advanced event since the last winter olympic games the organization is top class as well as the sporting facilities some of the best in the world you know our next piece is related to the olympics but the great pictures i want to bring to you anyway i know you're

also those well certainly takes the game slogan of faster higher and stronger very much to heart the higher bit take all of these pictures these russian daredevils most to climb the still of the construction shanghai tower it's almost six hundred fifty meters tall there's never any safety gear or permission so we do not recommend you trying this of course but let's take a look at those pictures look above the clouds there that tower still under construction but provides a ground vista nonetheless unless you're scared of heights that it was there at you tube video has scored almost seven million hits so far even watching it can make you dizzy. but of and then me now you can catch more of their antics on our website artie dot com don't forget as well you can questions for the athletes on our facebook page to the best ones will be asked here on air we promise you that join me again next hour if you can as we cover up more of the latest best from sochi for now though for me kevin i see you soon.

the g. twenty fourteen promises people to live in exhilarating winter for ninety eight year journey and use an hour and make every now and the rest of our lives they can use team for sochi twenty four take. on arts. now to some of the day's other news protests that erupted in the outskirts of bahrain's capital friday aquash by police with tear gas at least twenty nine arrested activists in manana marking three years of pro-reform dissent that's reportedly seen scores killed in a crackdown artie's looks airshows he reports. it's three years since the arab spring gripped the gulf state of bahrain violence still shakes the streets of its capital mamma as protesters against the sunni led government fire molotov cocktails the police respond with tear gas and flash bang grenades thing is that the government is using it as a while and

a lot are being tortured house raids just now of living in cities and i lived in but. you can hear helicopters armored by shooting at people. throwing it here yes here and there making people thought the key to why not even progress outside the street at least eighty nine people have reportedly been killed in the sheol position strive for reforms hundreds of thousands have been injured some lost limbs and eyesight protests have been held on almost daily basis and i witnessed some of those i went to bahrain a little more than a year ago we met with different government officials who told me that despite seeing the protesters as radicals and hardliners they were still looking for some sort of compromise but the most sensational statement came from the country's information minister so i mean that our job i think the bahraini opposition is the

main ally of the west the terrorist members of the opposition and their leader have close ties the foreign embassies in bahrain wiki leaks are veiled many documents proving it i talk to the americans and clearly ask them to speak to their friends in the opposition who should understand that bahrain cannot be ruled by an ethnic sectarian parnia bahrain's opposition say the allegations are laughable if that was true they say then why is there no action from the western states the u.s. navy's fifth fleet stationed in bahrain and washington's close ties with saudi arabia may be among the reasons what is happening through in terms of human rights abuses. is happening in russia the whole was all come up with the whole media. because it is happening in that region. close to saudi arabia they really keep quiet about it they. haven't seen for in

three years one single time that you can then be over your eyes while these were the scenes of the second anniversary of bahrain's uprising with thousands protesting peacefully in the streets this time it is already a lot noisier with the opposition planning a three day long protest and the authorities beefing up security. and. we reiterate our main demand secure for rights without any hesitation we are ready to make new sacrifices for this in the name of our homeland we will demand just retribution for all those who killed our sons and those who ordered the killings last month bahrain's crown prince selman called for another round of negotiations to end the violence but with two failed attempts already and the world family refusing to budge and protesters demands hardly anyone in this gulf state believes there may be any breakthrough soon alexy russia r.t. . to get some more perspective on this from activists

a doctor rule also far also president of the bahrain nursing society thank you for joining us here on r t so you helped treat injured protesters after abuse police crackdown as i go on there what kind of cases do you usually have to deal with what kind of injuries do these protesters have. there's a lot of injuries such as charred gun which people which the ministry of interior is using against the people in bahrain broken bones head traumas and some of them of course they're very bad we end up we have to send them to the hospital to be treated but you know for a fact once they go into the hospital they will be interrogated you yourself spent a term in prison i understand it was several months but you didn't get the fifteen years that you were facing why do you think that was. i didn't i was acquitted because actually there was a formula there is twenty of us with the felons nine of us got equipment and nine of us got sentenced and the nine of us that the sentence they were sentenced to

nine years as i speak dr i didn't like brahimi dimiss danny has to say you had that i know we. are in prison as we speak so far and there's a lot of people who are in prison such as eleven photographers there are journalists seventy sportsmen and human rights defenders you just named it there are all different kind of people they are in jail at the present time with the political prisoners. now one of the key opposition leaders has admitted that there will be and i'm quoting here some balik activities to protest the deterioration of the situation is that mean that the opposition is pulling back is trying to relinquishing the movement so-to speak. there is no way on earth they will do that they are with the people of bahrain until we get our dignity and our justice the idea is to show the people how many people there will be standing they will be protesting and behind me because they always say the government always said that we

are really a minority and the reality is we are a majority there are seventy percent of the people of bahrain they are shia therefore the numbers really see us protesting in the number of us will tell you who is the minority in the country now activist leader to be released from prison this year do you think you'll go back to leading the protest that's our job. oh absolutely absolutely maybe read is not be regimented be regimen is that persistent he keeps saying we are some mood and hang in there and i can't wait for him to come out because the people just love him and he needs to be out not only him but all political prisoners we are requesting all political prisoners to be released especially the the political prisoners the thirty one of the thirteen they need to be on the nikkei shushan table in order to have a negotiation with the government offering now the government says they've made concessions in order to help satisfy the demands of the protesters why do you think

those concessions haven't been enough so far. it's haven't been enough because the culture of impunity is still going on as we speak you can tell from the pictures of the villages there's still massive an excessive use of tear gas today they have detained seventeen youth yesterday they have became critical when you as we got the messages from bahrain they're still hitting women they are at using everybody in the country there won't be a concession or they won't say that they have a good team it's only when they flee all the political prisoners and behind and they will have to stop all these attacks on the villages and the home raids on a daily basis and the tear gas that they're using and detention of our men and you think kids in the country then we will say there is a good deed and let's talk and we sit down and talk all right activists who are also for president of the bahrain or society thank you very much for.

thank you very much. for the last thirty years r.t. has been closely following the uprising in bahrain you can find the big picture what's going on on our website r.t. dot com. british government is casting about for ways to keep its citizens from going to fight in syria stay with us for the story of how a forty one year old man left his family behind to fight and die in a foreign war that and more still to come. the.

transit road to vnukovo report you'll best way to the heart of moscow. peoples free movement be one of the pillars of common markets but the issue is driving a wedge between new member states calls for tougher regulations are spreading wider

drawing condemnation from brussels switzerland has just voted in favor of curbs on e.u. migrants almost half of germans want to follow in those footsteps in france seventy percent of the population think there are too many foreigners in the country and a vast majority of britons want to see immigration reduced as well in norway a record number of illegal immigrants were deported last year and is r t zero piskun are reports calls for stricter measures are now growing louder. this used to be a quiet suburban town in the outskirts of oslo where money is spent fourteen years of his life until he says along with most of his norwegian friends they had to move out because of constant attacks by teenage immigrant again next. in the ambulance five times or something so it came to the point where i didn't have the time to be robbed all the time i go to the hospital today three out of four students at the local school are of foreign descent vast energy exports brought norway some of the highest living standards in europe and made it very attractive for immigrants over

the last thirty years their population has grown tenfold but high living standards mean high cost which not all newcomers are contributing towards many immigrants who are coming from asia and africa they are low skilled and know they don't have a labor market for them to often tough for them so many and. to be depended on social benefits benefits include free housing a two year old integration course and an allowance also paid by the state during this time with n.g.o.s warning the spending may be too much even for the norwegian budget to swallow talks about cutting down the numbers have now reached parliament so we want to improve the. immigration system in europe and not get rid of it by closing the borders we have wanted to discuss now how to sort of get a more work a good working immigration system how to respect the system but solving one problem

may create new ones switzerland has just held a mission wide referendum in which over half of its citizens decided to limit the amount of immigrants living and working there causing outrage from brussels and threatening trade ties with the e.u. it's going off r.t. . always more stories a click away on our website including relief for a sound debate or other that. becoming the first ever country to allow you to nature for terminally ill children. immediately uniting christians muslims and jews in a wave of condemnation and. gender euphoria us facebook users don't have to just be boys or girls anymore as a social network introduces fifty gender identity options that story and more a click away and. authorities in the u.k. scrambling to come up with a solution to prevent young britons from becoming radicalized and taking up arms in syria ali boyko looks at the troubling story of

a man who reportedly blew himself up in the war torn city of aleppo. facts are sometimes stranger than fiction this is the street where abdul wahid machida the first suspected british suicide bomber in syria is alleged to have lived it schooled martyrs avenue the forty one year old man that lived here is suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing in a truck in the city of aleppo last week after joining the outcry is a link to al nusra front the father of three is said to have quit is day job six months ago and joined a convoy running aid into syria he was reportedly in contact with his wife and children up until last week if his identity is confirmed it will be the first known attack by a briton in syria according to the center for the study of radicalization in king's college in london hundreds of u.k. citizens have traveled to syria to fight with jihadi groups recent posts on social

media suggest that some of the brits fighting back have been involved in the saying and execution of fellow rebels while residents of ma says adding you come to terms with their reported neighbors suicide attack security services in the u.k. of becoming increasingly concerned about the potential that brits fighting in syria could return and stage attacks on u.k. soil polevoy chaos see west sussex stay with us still to come martin sophie shevardnadze speaks with the author of that controversial child euthanasia law that was recently passed in belgium so if you go i mean.

trends arrow to vnukovo report your best way to the heart of moscow. ten a group wants to erect a statue to the lord of darkness in oklahoma city which is the logical name capital of the whole of the cygnus want to build the monument of a goat headed devil in or despite a monument to the ten commandments that was put up in two thousand and twelve yet they maybe shouldn't have put into the ten commandments on public property but does

that mean that same nazis the other wackos have the right to put up their own twisted monuments well that is it depends on how you look at things technically in western liberalism everyone's beliefs by law are equal even if ninety nine people are christian and they cannot impose on that one poor satanist which sounds nice but in reality that means that those ninety nine christians have to tolerate a monument to the infernal master and defiler of the innocent on their way to work every morning part of having a culture means having a group of people of common beliefs and values if you just include anything into the culture than you no longer have a culture all that remains are scattered individuals all i'm trying to say is that it's ok to abuse the devil guys but that's just my opinion.

hello welcome to. our not set a law that would allow his four children is being considered in belgium if passed the bill would lift state restrictions and those requests for their lives to be terminated and we'll be speaking to one of those behind a controversial truck love. a matter of life and death if parents are forced to watch their children ways to way slowly and. surely assisted suicide be an option oh for these two for. euthanasia posing questions no one would ever want to answer it do minors have the right to die is a time.